Integration of Maoist ex-rebels completed - challenges remain

October 4, 2012

The following is an article written by PRASHANT JAH, published by The Hindu.

"One country two armies" situation ends in Nepal

Six years after the formal end of the civil war, Nepal’s
“peace process” has concluded with the integration of a little over 1,450 former
Maoist fighters into the Nepal Army (NA). The cantonments where the former
combatants of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) resided have closed
down, Maoist weapons are under state control, and the PLA has ceased to exist
ending the state of “one country, two Armies”.

In the past few weeks, the final phase of the integration
process saw 1,388 combatants who had opted for integration pass through the
NA-conducted selection examinations. They would join at the solider level.
Seventy five other former Maoist fighters have cleared the written exam to join
the NA at the officer level, though final results for them have not yet been
announced since medical tests and interviews are to be completed. Officers are
to go through a nine-month training course, and soldiers would undergo a
seven-month course — both sets will also have an additional three-month “bridge
course”.

Over the past five years, there has been a gradual reduction
in the number of combatants in the cantonments. About 32,000 individuals had
initially registered in the camps in early 2007. But the United Nations Mission
in Nepal (UNMIN) verified only 19,602 of those as combatants and disqualified
over 4,000 persons for being under-age or joining the Maoist Army after the
ceasefire began. The “disqualified” were discharged from the cantonments in
early 2010.

In November 2011,(click here)a seven-point agreement was signed between
the parties, which stipulated that a maximum of 6,500 former combatants could
be integrated in a specially created general directorate under the NA. In the
first phase of regrouping, over 7000 combatants opted to retire with cash
packages while over 9,000 opted for integration.

But in subsequent rounds, this number steadily dipped and
finally, around 1,600 combatants and 116 officer-level former fighters chose to
go through selection tests.

In April 2012, the Nepal Army had also taken charge of the
cantonments as well as containers that included over 3,000 Maoist weapons. The
NA is now making arrangements to transport the containers to army centres from
the cantonments, which have closed down.

CHALLENGES

Minendra Rijal, a member of the Special Committee for the
Supervision, Integration, and Rehabilitation of former combatants, said that
the process was now complete, and highlighted the key challenge ahead. Speaking
to The Hindu, he said, “It is now important that there be no relationship
between the Maoist party and those former fighters who have joined the Army;
they must see themselves like any other solider. At the same time, the Nepal
Army too must not discriminate against those who have been integrated. That
will be the yardstick for successful integration.”

There is some uncertainty about where the combatants would
be accommodated in the Army structure, since a lot fewer combatants than
expected will be getting integrated. The original strength of the proposed
general directorate was 18,500 — with 6,500 former Maoists constituting 35 per
cent of the force and the remaining 65 per cent personnel from the security
forces. It was to have multiple responsibilities, and be headed by a
Major-General.

“I don’t think there will be a general directorate now.
There could be a directorate, which has limited responsibility, since its size
will only be around 3,500 now,” says Deepak Prakash Bhatt, a member of the
Special Committee Secretariat. The Maoist leadership has however insisted that
a general directorate be formed in keeping with the agreement.

While there was an informal agreement that the senior-most
rank to be given to the Maoists would be that of a colonel, sources say that
going by years of service, several former Maoist commanders would be eligible
only to rise up to a major. “Profession says major, let us see what politics
determines,” said a key official involved closely with the process.

With over 15,000 trained and ideologically-influenced
combatants opting to retire, there have been concerns about their future course
of action. Among them, some have joined the radical Maoist splinter led by
Mohan Vaidya ‘Kiran’, and are being organized into a semi-military structure.
But most are, according to those who have closely worked in cantonments,
returning to their families, setting up businesses and working with their old
Maoist party.